Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: God’s Plan for the World		Sampler
S	Psalms 80, 81, 82, 84		Matthew 24:23-24	The Second Coming		Psalm 84:1-4	Finding Shelter
M	Matthew 23:37-24:51		Matthew 25:31-46	Time of Judgement		Matthew 23:11-12	Who Is the Greatest?
T	Matthew 25:1-26:46		Matthew 26:59-69	Jesus on Trial		Matthew 26:47-50	Judas Betrays Jesus
W	Matthew 26:47-27:61		Matthew 27:24-54	Words from the Cross		Matthew 28:5-10	Jesus Is Risen
T	Matthew 27:62-28:20		Matthew 28:1-20	Christ’s Commission		Matthew 28:19-20	Go to All Nations
F	1 Samuel 1:1-2:36		1 Samuel 1:1-28	Samuel’s Birth		1 Samuel 1:27-28	Hannah’s Gift
S	1 Samuel 3:1-4:22		1 Samuel 3:1-4:1	Samuel’s Call		1 Samuel 3:10	God Calls Samuel

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

Lent 2010

Introduction to the Walking with God – Lenten Devotional:

The season of Lent is my favorite church season. Some pin it as gloomy, but I see it as a growing toward light – a season that mirrors the natural season of Spring. Both seasons are a growth to light, a growth to life, the whole world coming alive because of the Light of Life.

As Lent and Spring take us toward the great celebration of new life in Jesus, the 40 days prior to Easter are marked off as a preparation for that great New Beginning. It’s an exploration in what Jesus came to offer as well as save us from. New life captures everything there is to capture about Easter – a new life that just will never die! Thanks be to God.

The new life I’m talking about is life with God, life lived learning how to live like Jesus (the one who holds all that exists together in his hands, cf. Colossians 1). God came to us in Jesus, died on a cross and rose again to life because he wanted us to most fully live, now and forever, as a people of God, a people who is relearning how to walk with God and to live life as God intended. So that’s what Lent is about: learning how to live again through repentance and belief.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount captures so much about the kind of life he comes to offer, a kind of life lived into by repentance and belief – repenting from the old ways of life and believing Jesus’ way is the way of truth and life.  His Sermon outlines for us a fantastic invitation, that anyone, no matter what, is able to be "in" on this new kind of life with God. No social status, no previous experiences, nothing bars you from the Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

…Our problem is that sometimes things get in the way and we just don’t see or pay attention to God’s grace and the promises and life he wants for us. Other things get in the way and cloud our eyes. The cataracts blind us from life at the fullest (1 Tim. 6) and the noise of the world prevents us from hearing the gentle invitations of the Holy Spirit to come and live with God, come and live life in abundance, a life that never dies. Abundant living also needs defined here: it’s not about possessions or status, it’s about an inner freedom to love whenever the opportunity arrives. It’s re-created in us by the hands of God and we grow in abundance of this freedom by the grace of God.

I invite you to join me through these 40 days of Lent to live as disciples of Jesus, living by turning by repentance and into belief, paying attention to the great things God desires for us. The key is listening. Our listening within Lent we’ll have us exploring Scripture and occasionally simple spiritual practices or disciplines that we hear in Scripture. The practices are like gardening tools used to till and cultivate the seeds of faith planted by the Word and Spirit, to use an analogy by Eugene Peterson. They are all over in Scripture as tools that help us pay attention to the presence and grace of God. On such tool is an ancient way of reading Scripture called lectio divina (Latin for "divine or sacred reading"). In English: Read, Think, Pray, Live.

As we pilgrimage together through Lent, may God open our eyes and ears so that we might be attentive to his magnificent promises for us day by day.

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Benjamin Vineyard

Lent 2010

Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: Power in the Gospel		Sampler
S	Psalms 34, 36; Ecclesiastes 11:1-12:14		Mark 8:27-9:21	Cost of Discipleship		Psalm 34:1-3	Praising the Lord
M	Mark 8:27-9:50		Mark 9:2-13	Jesus, Son of God		Mark 9:33-37	Servants of All
T	Mark 10:1-11:10		Mark 10:1-16	Blessings of Marriage		Mark 10:23-27	Easier for a Camel
W	Mark 11:11-12:27		Mark 11:12-25	Cleansing God’s House		Mark 11:15-19	A House of Prayer
T	Mark 12:28-13:37		Mark 12:28-44	The Great Commandment		Mark 12:28-31	Love God First
F	Mark 14:1-15:20		Mark 14:12-31	The Last Supper		Mark 14:1-2	The Plotters
S	Mark 15:21-16:8 (9-20)		Mark 16:1-8	The First Easter		Mark 16:6-7	"He Has Been Raised"

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: Jesus and the Kingdom		Sampler
S	Psalm 78; Proverbs 24:1-34		Proverbs 24:1-24	Wisdom’s Values		Psalm 78:1	Listen to God
M	Matthew 12:1-13:52		Matthew 12:22-37	A Good Tree’s Fruit		Matthew 13:1-9	Parable of the Sower
T	Matthew 13:53-15:39		Matthew 13:44-52	Kingdom Parables		Matthew 14:13-21	A Great Picnic
W	Matthew 16:1-17:27		Matthew 16:13-20	Jesus the Messiah		Matthew 16:24-25	A Hard Teaching
T	Matthew 18:1-19:30		Matthew 18:21-35	Forgiving Others		Matthew 18:12-14	A Good Shepherd
F	Matthew 20:1-21:22		Matthew 20:17-28	Selfless Service		Matthew 20:25-28	Servants All
S	Matthew 21:23-23:39		Matthew 22:15-33	Traps for Jesus		Matthew 22:34-40	Two Commandments

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: Calls and Conversations		Sampler
S	Ruth 1:1-4:22		Ruth 1:1-18	Ruth’s Decision		Ruth 1:15-18	Ruth’s Loyalty
M	Acts 9:1-43		Acts 9:1-9	Saul is Called		Acts 9:20-22	Saul Preaches Christ
T	Acts 10:1-11:18		Acts 10:34-48	Conversion of the Gentiles		Acts 10:34-35	Acceptable to God
W	Acts 11:19-12:25		Matthew 18:1-6	As Children in Faith		Acts 11:17-18	God’s Spirit is for All
T	Acts 13:1-14:7		Isaiah 55:6-9	Return to the Lord		Acts 13:48-49	God’s Word is Spread
F	Acts 14:8-15:35		Romans 1:16-17	Power of the Gospel		Acts 15:6-9	God Knows the Heart
S	Acts 15:36-16:40		Ephesians 4:22-5:2	Imitators of God		Acts 16:9-10	A Call to Go Forth

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: Strength in Times of Testing		Sampler
S	Psalm 65, 66, 67, 68		Psalm 67:1-7	God’s Blessings		Psalm 67:1-7	Let All People Praise God
M	Isaiah 25:1-27:13		Isaiah 26:1-13	Victorious People of God		Isaiah 26:1-4	An Everlasting Rock
T	Isaiah 30:1-33:24		Isaiah 30:19-26	Help in Hard Times		Isaiah 30:19-21	God Hears and Answers
W	Isaiah 36:1-39:8		Isaiah 38:1-20	The King is Healed		Isaiah 38:19-20	All Our Days
T	James 1:1-5:20		James 4:1-10	Come Close to God		James 4:8-10	Draw Near to God
F	1 Peter 1:1-2:25		1 Peter 2:1-12	Living Stones		1 Peter 2:9-10	God’s Own People
S	1 Peter 3:1-5:14		1 Peter 4:1-11	Maintain Love		1 Peter 4:10-11	Using God’s Gifts

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

Begin in a Moment of Silence & Short Prayer

Read: (Find Today and Pick your choice: Challenge, Survey, or Sampler)

	Challenge		Survey: The Coming of Jesus		Sampler
S	Psalms 70, 71,72, 73		Matthew 1:18-25	God With Us		Psalm 70:4-5	God Is Great
M	Matthew 1:1-2:23		Matthew 2:1-12	Gifts of the Magi		Matthew 21:1-2, 10-12	Following a Star
T	Matthew 3:1-4:22		Matthew 4:1-11	Jesus’ Temptations		Matthew 4:18-21	Fishing for Followers
W	Matthew 4:23-6:4		Matthew 5:1-12	The Beatitudes		Matthew 5:14-16	Let Your Light Shine
T	Matthew 6:5-7:29		Matthew 6:5-15	The Lord’s Prayer		Matthew 6:5-6	When You Pray
F	Matthew 8:1-9:34		Matthew 7:24-29	The Two Houses		Matthew 9:27-31	The Blind See
S	Matthew 9:35-11:30		Matthew 9:35-10:9	Sending the Twelve		Matthew 9:35-38	Jesus Has Much to Do

Think: (What came to mind while reading? Words, phrases, stories?…)

Pray: (Take things to God in conversation.)

Live: (What might God be calling you to live out because of this reading? Ask him to guide you in that process.)

Return to God in Prayer.

The Call to Prayer:

(Leader) Be excited! Jump with joy! Jesus has come!

The Request for Presence:

(Prayer) Let all people everywhere praise you God for your gift to us – your Son Jesus. In him we have peace and hope and joy. We never have to be afraid because you are with us and you always keep your promises. Thank you! Amen.

The Greeting:

(Leader) Let’s give thanks to God forever and ever!

A Reading:

Luke 2:1-20

The Gloria: (Together or as Repeat-After-Me)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Activity:

Ornaments and Jesus

Look at the tree. Everyone takes a turn to pick an ornament on the tree by looking at it, leaving it on the tree, and trying to get others to guess which one they’re thinking of. By giving out clues or “hot or cold” all the other participants try to find the ornament.

When the ornament is found, families can share what that ornament reminds them of (for example, memories, things about Christmas, things about God’s love for us, etc.).

Everyone takes a turn.

The Lord’s Prayer: (Together or Repeat-After-Me)

Our Father, who is in heaven,

Hallowed be your Name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

[For yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.]

Amen.

Conclusion:

(Prayer) Jesus, help us to always be thankful. You send your Son to earth to show us how much you love us. Thanks you for that! Thanks for this time of year, for surprises, and gifts. Teach us to give also. Amen.

READINGS:

Morning:

Psalm 45, 46

Isa. 59:15b-21

Afternoon:

Gal. 3:23–4:7

Phil. 2:5-11

The Apostle’s Creed

Night:

Psalm 89:1-29

Mat. 1:18-25

The Lord’s Prayer

THOUGHTS:

Merry Christmas Eve! What does this day bring as far as hopes and memories? How is God in those memories or hopes?

PRAYER:

Share your joy with the Lord!

LIVING:

Be a listener today. Listen to others. Listen for God in others too.

READINGS:

Morning:

Psalm 72

Isa. 28:9-22

Afternoon:

Rev. 21:9-21

The Apostle’s Creed

Night:

Psalm 111, 113

Luke 1:26-38

The Lord’s Prayer

THOUGHTS:

What did you read about preparation? Are you prepared? How is God inviting you to get ready?

PRAYER:

Preparation comes with attention. Attention comes with a bit of time focusing on what needs to happen. Speak with God about this sense of preparation. What needs to happen in your life?

LIVING:

Ask for forgiveness from one person today.